HOUSE BILL REPORT

SSB 5844

BYSenate Committee on Transportation (originally sponsored by Senators Conner and Peterson)

Requiring bonds from motor freight brokers.

House Committe on Transportation

Majority Report:  Do pass.  (25)

      Signed by Representatives Walk, Chair; Baugher, Vice Chair; Betrozoff, Cantwell, Cooper, Doty, Fisher, Fox, Gallagher, Hankins, Haugen, Heavey, Jacobsen, Jones, Kremen, Meyers, Patrick, Prince, Schmidt, Sutherland, Todd, J. Williams, K. Wilson, S. Wilson and Zellinsky.

House Staff:Mary McLaughlin (786-7309)

AS PASSED HOUSE FEBRUARY 26, 1988

BACKGROUND:

The Utilities & Transportation Commission (UTC) regulates brokers and forwarders as common carriers.  A broker arranges for transportation for compensation, and a forwarder consolidates freight for a fee.  The UTC has issued five common carrier permits to intrastate brokers.  These brokers are required to pay a one-time $150 application fee and post a $1,000 bond.  Interstate brokers are not required to register with the Commission or post a bond.

SUMMARY:

The current definition of broker, which makes a broker or forwarder a common carrier, is replaced with a new definition.  A broker is a person engaged in the business of arranging for transportation of property by two or more interstate or intrastate common carriers.  (Interstate brokers will be subject to a one-time $25.00 registration fee.  This same fee is imposed for interstate exempt carriers.  Intrastate brokers will continue to pay the one-time $150 application fee.)

All brokers must file a bond in an amount to be determined by the UTC.  The bond may not be less than $5,000.

Fiscal Note:      Available.

House Committee ‑ Testified For:    Martin Sangster, Washington Trucking Association.

House Committee - Testified Against:      None Presented.

House Committee - Testimony For:    Requiring all brokers to register and post a bond with the Commission will aid in reducing the number of cases where a questionable broker collects a fee for supposedly arranging for transportation.

House Committee - Testimony Against:      None Presented.